WE DID IT!!!! S.F. Election Campaign a Success!
There is so much on my mind right now. First, a breakdown of what’s going on with Spot.us
The Updates
It was only two months ago that we decided to scrounge together basic web tools to try and get a proof of concept for Spot.Us. Using just a wiki, a blog and twitter we’ve fundraised enough money for TWO investigations. It’s even been enough to get attention from the paper of record, the New York Times.
- The first investigation with reporter Alexis Madrigal is going to be published very soon (we think next week!) More on that to come. This is perfect timing because…..
- The second investigative project: $2,500 to fact-check political advertisements for the upcoming SF election has now tipped!!! We raised $2,500 from 74 people (an average of $33 each).
- We are 2 for 3!!!!! (We still have a third pitch which is 64% funded and only needs another $120 to tip).
The Overwhelming Feeling of Gratitude
There really is no other way to put it. Right now Spot.Us is trying to get a proof of concept. We have nothing to show for the idea except a blog and a wiki. But that was enough for people to take a leap of faith, not just with their attention, but their wallets. I already know that the biofuel investigation is going to wow people – and I know NewsDesk and PublicPress are going to work their butts off doing the same with the SF Election Truthiness Campaign.
Bottom-line: I know this is cheezy, but sometimes the web empowers cheeze. I feel a little love for everyone with a blog right now (except the spammers). To my friends and colleagues who donated…. I lower my head and humbly thank you. You will never know how much all this means to me.
Also happy to note that we are dedicating one of the fact-checking articles (there will be 10) to One Web Day – which is all about celebrating everything the web enables (hat tip Susan Crawford).
(see video below with more overt-and-personal thanking which includes the academy).
What’s Next???
work work work work.
- For the investigations: Stay tuned – we will have updates on this blog as well as Public-Press.org NOTE: If you are a news organization and want to help – contact us. You will be able to run this content on your own website/newspaper/radio/etc. The public has commissioned this project – so you are remiss not to join us. This is free high quality content – paid for by the people.
- Designs moving forward – can’t slow down. (see the latest)
- Development phase about to start.
- More interest coming in from other reporters. I’m not sure if we should continue the wiki experiment or consider it a success and hold off until we launch in full this October. Any comments from you?
For now – a video with thanks.
Video Updates
[viddler id=bbab1b29&w=437&h=370]
Also see this Seesmic video which repeats but was my first take – but couldn’t embede in wordpress.
Related posts:
[...] When I saw that Alexis donated to this second pitch I teared up a bit. Along with Alexis seventy-three other people, many of them journalism colleagues, donated an average of $33 to fund this investigation. It’s hard to express my gratitude, but I try here. [...]
Congrats on raising the money! Would love to know a little more about what worked, what didn’t and why? Maybe I can do a quick interview with you next week.